11/14/07 Log: The 1-Day Streak of Perfection

Well, I am proud to say that I followed through with my plan last night and took my butt to the gym right after work. I did my missed Shapeshift strength workout (squeezing in 10-20 pushups between each set/superset), then hopped on a treadmill and ripped out 30 minutes of intervals: 6 sets of 8.5-9.0 mph/60 sec. alternated with 3.5 mph/90 sec. Warmup and cooldown were performed at 3.5 mph/5-7.5% incline.

Then I hit the grocery store on the way home, put away all of the groceries without munching on anything off plan, snarfed my final meal of the day (choco protein shake and nuts), mass steamed 21 eggs, and sent myself to bed.

This morning, I was determined to continue my streak (does it count as a streak if you’ve only had one perfect day so far? Haha…) so I ate half a bowl of oats, chugged down 2 cups of water, and hit the gym again for another Shapeshift workout and intervals on the elliptical. I got to switch from Romanian deadlifts to sumo squats in my top posterior chain exercise, which meant that I could go even heavier. I just did sets of 10 barbell sumos last night at 155 lbs, so this morning I bumped up my 6 rep max to 175 lbs, RAWR! I am shooting for 200 lbs in two more weeks. I finished up with 20 minutes of bonus cardio on the recumbent bike while reading my NASM textbook.

I’m not dressed in Forza-friendly clothes today, so I will just be walking during lunch. I plan to do two laps, or 1.5 miles. Depending on my energy level when I get home, I may squeeze in 30 minutes of YF Flexibility as well.

Weight is still holding steady at 139.8 lbs, but I think I am still a bit waterlogged. Meals 1-2 are on plan, and 3-5 are in the fridge waiting. As I am not working late, meal 6 will be taken at home.

On the evening schedule tonight is meal prep. I tried out the November Oxygen magazine recipe for sweet potato chips this morning in my Panasonic easy-bake toaster oven, but the thickly-sliced (1/2″) rounds didn’t really compress into crispy, chippy goodness as expected. I will give it another shot in the big oven tonight. About 2 pounds of chicken breast also need to meet with about 350 degrees of heat or the inside of my nonstick wok, and I am itching to try a recipe from the latest addition to my healthy cookbook collection, The Sneaky Chef by Missy Chase Lapine. Like the more recently-released and Oprah-promoted Deceptively Delicious by Jennifer Seinfeld, TSC is all about hiding vegetable and fruit purees to what would frankly be called nutritionally-deficient kiddie junk food by anyone with a modicum of knowledge about healthy eating. As an unabashed fan of fruits and veggies in their natural state thanks to the wonderful cooking skills of my Asian parents, I have no need of this sort of culinary sleight-of-hand, but my dear husband is an extreme veggie-phobe who can happily live on nothing but ground beef, cheese, salsa, and tortilla chips for weeks at a time. I blame this sad state affairs on his early exposure to only the overboiled and flavorless mush that passes for vegetables on the plates of most Americans of Western European descent. (And on his father’s example, too. It’s hard to tell a kid to eat his spinach when his beloved Daddoo is making a “Yuck!” face at the blob of green slime on his own plate.)

Don’t get me wrong–my husband does enjoy the grown-up foods I prepare for us at home, but it is guaranteed that at least 50% of the veggies I put on his plate (and I don’t even put that MUCH on there!) wind up getting swept into the trash can at the end of the meal. It’s quite annoying, not to mention a total waste of perfectly good food. That’s what prompted me to pick up The Sneaky Chef (30% off and subsidized with $5 in Borders Bucks).

Chris has been doing so well with P90X (2 more weeks until he finishes a full cycle of X Classic) that I am willing to put in a bit of extra effort in the kitchen and reward him with his preferred kiddie-style meals…with lots of veggies hidden inside.

I’ve also set aside a little reward for myself that will remain wrapped up until I reach my goal: a spiffy new makeup compact from Sephora that I acquired with a gift certificate last week. I requested gift wrapping and made sure the message tag clearly read, “Happy challenge! Do not open until goal is met!” My husband is helpfully holding the box hostage until I hit and stabilize between 130-132 pounds.